Ronaldo approached Liverpool in 2003 before being persuaded by Sir Alex Ferguson[weirushui]

Speaking on the podcast Overlap, Carragher said: "Before he signed for Manchester United I thought we were going to get him, it was Gerard Houllier and Phil Thompson, who told us we had a deal with Cristiano Ronaldo and he was talking to his agent. But then Sky Sports reported that Cristiano Ronaldo would join Manchester United."

"Cristiano reminded me of what Liverpool lacked, I think in those 10 years the Reds had world-class or great players in every position, but I don't think we had world-class foreign players. We had John Barnes in the late '80s, but I think if you lived through the' 90s, I don't think we had a player like that."

Liverpool assistant Phil Thompson recalled that he had dinner with Ronaldo's agent Tony Henry in Lisbon to discuss the details of the transfer. Although it looked like Ronaldo was on his way to Merseyside, in the end Ferguson persuaded the player to join United.

Phil Thompson recalled in an interview with The Athletic that he and Houllier were having lunch at the training centre and almost choked on their food when Sky Sports read "Manchester United sign Cristiano Ronaldo for £12.2 million". Houllier jumped up and said: "What's going on?"